Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Greater New Orleans

Change Region

comments

Tackling, penalties hurt New Orleans Saints vs. St. Louis Rams: Did You See?

New Orleans Saints vs. St. Louis Rams, December 15, 2013

New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins whiffs on a tackle of St. Louis Rams running back Zac Stacy on a 40-yard touchdown run at the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday, December 15, 2013.
(Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

The New Orleans Saints' defense has improved dramatically from last season in the most basic principle: tackling.

Those fortunes changed Sunday afternoon against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. Saints defenders were whiffing left and right in New Orleans' 27-16 loss.

"Frustrating. Disappointing. Embarrassed. Dominated. All of those," linebacker Curtis Lofton said. "We know we have a good team, but you can't just show up and play. We've got to be better on the road against Carolina."

Two of the most blatant cases of missed tackles occurred during two of St. Louis' most explosive plays.

First, safety Malcolm Jenkins and cornerback Corey White allowed the Rams' Cory Harkey to elude their grasps and gallop for a 31-yard touchdown reception from Kellen Clemens. Then the big blow came when linebacker Parys Haralson and Jenkins missed their chance to take down Zac Stacy on a 40-yard TD scamper to push the Rams ahead 24-3 in the second quarter.

"You just look at it and you can't miss tackles," Lofton said. "Our defense is set up to where you're in position. And when you're in position, things may break down, but you have to live to play another down. You have to stand up and make the play regardless of where it's at, how you get there. You have to make the tackle. Guys didn't do a good job of that."

Jenkins added: "That's one of the things that killed us today. They busted some runs. I know me especially the inability to tackle in space was kind of one of our big issues. We've got to get that corrected, especially from my position. Anytime I miss a tackle, you know it's going to be a big play. I've got to do a better job of just getting the guy down."

ROBERT QUINN

Two years ago, it was Chris Long running circles around Saints tackle Charles Brown. It was Quinn's turn Sunday.

Quinn lived up to the moniker of being a game-changer. The Rams' defensive end picked up two sacks on Brees, including a sack-fumble and recovery on the Saints' opening possession of the second half. His hit on Brees on the Saints' first offensive snap of the game set the tone for the Rams. The pressure led to a floater that T.J. McDonald corralled for an interception.

Quinn ranked second in the NFL in sacks entering Week 15. His two sacks Sunday gave him 15 in 14 games.

"Rob, in my opinion, is the best pass rusher in the league," Long said. "They decided they were going to try to take us away, but you can't take Rob away. That's hard to do. He's a tremendous player, needs to be up for Defensive Player of the Year.

"If there's any justice in the world, he'd be the Defensive Player of the Year."

SAINTS PENALTIES

The Saints entered Sunday's game with 26 fewer penalties than St. Louis on the season. But New Orleans played like the more undisciplined team with eight penalties for 77 yards, while St. Louis committed only four penalties for 30 yards.

The numbers of penalties was high for the Saints, but the timing of some of them hurt worse.

Lofton picked up an unnecessary roughness penalty when he hit a sliding Kellen Clemens late in the first quarter. Malcolm Jenkins picked up an unnecessary roughness penalty on the next play, pushing Stacy while he was out of bounds. Officially, the Rams picked up 29 yards of penalties on the drive, leading to Clemens' touchdown pass to Lance Kendricks.

Officials flagged Jenkins for another unnecessary roughness penalty on the next drive when Jenkins hit the Rams' Austin Pettis in the back as Pettis made a 14-yard reception. Officials deemed it a hit on a defenseless receiver.

"Those things happen," Jenkins said. "All of them from a defensive standpoint, all of them, were aggressive penalties. So we can live with those. Those are flags that we can live with. We want guys to play hard and play to the whistle. It just happened to go wrong for us today."

Offensively, left tackle Charles Brown's penalty for illegal hands to the face of Quinn nullified a Lance Moore TD reception with 15 seconds remaining in the first half. The Rams held the Saints to a field-goal attempt, which Michael Brockers blocked.

BY THE NUMBERS

2 - Interceptions Brees tossed in the first quarter

4 - Consecutive games the Saints' offense didn't gain a first down on its opening drive

"That was pretty ugly. Obviously, it's a disappointing loss. Extremely disappointing, I thought, in all three areas. We didn't play very well at all. Obviously, we didn't get them ready to play coming out. I take responsibility for that. Shoot, much has been written how we play at home and how we play on the road. You know what? That's where it is right now this season. We come out here with a lot at stake, having played an important game last week. We can't line up and kick a field goal. We can't get the run stopped. We turn the ball over. We did everything that we talked about that you can't do to get a road win. ... How we played today was unacceptable." -- Saints coach Sean Payton

FROM A PLAYER'S MOUTH

"We have to play better on the road. That's the stigma on us, and we haven't proved anybody wrong." -- Lofton